NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: WILD v MIGHTY DUCKS

May 9, 2003

Jean-Sebastien Giguere

Paul Kariya

PAUL KARIYA: Well, it was a great game. Minnesota obviously played extremely well, and to come back from two 3-1 deficits shows a lot of character. We'll be in a tough battle.

J.S. GIGUERE: It was a great game to watch, very entertaining, and I was just pretty excited to come here. I think it's going to be a great battle. Two similar teams playing against each other, it's going to be very intense. It will be fun for to watch for the fans. We're looking forward to it.

J.S. GIGUERE: The secret has been 20 guys showing up every night helping me do my job. I couldn't do that without any of the guys on the ice. My defense have been playing unbelievable. They did a great job making sure I see the puck all the time. If there is a rebound, they take it away. You have all the forwards coming back helping the Ds, taking their guys in their zone and scoring big goals. If we all do our job as good as we can, then we have a chance to be successful.

PAUL KARIYA: That's for you guys to decide, Randy. We don't talk about that. We know we're playing a great hockey club here, and we're going to have to be at our best to beat them.

PAUL KARIYA: Well, it's the way he's been going for two years and finally he's getting some recognition for the work he's doing. I think the biggest thing is he works extremely hard at his game. It's very nice to see him get rewarded for all the work he's put in. He's technically very sound. He's always scored at the shooter. Always makes the first save, the rebounds are in the corner. He's a fantastic goaltender. He's been even better in the playoffs, as good as he's been in the whole year.

J.S. GIGUERE: Thanks, Paul.

PAUL KARIYA: You can pay me later.

PAUL KARIYA: On one hand it would be great to see my family, both my brothers would have been home at that time, it would have been nice. On the other hand, I saved a lot of money with ticket requests.

PAUL KARIYA: Well, if you look at the way we played, especially through the second half of the season, we were a good defensive hockey club last year, and what we lacked is scoring up front and a powerplay, and Brian Murray addressed those issues in the off-season, right away in the off-season, signing Adam Oates and picking up Petr Sykora, and throughout the years, with the additions he made with Steve Thomas and Neidermayer. Now, we have matched, if not got better, defensively. Now we can score goals, and we have a lot of depth up front we didn't have the season before. I think that's the combination that's given us some better success.

J.S. GIGUERE: I agree with that. I guess he pretty much said it all. Then you add Mike Babcock too in there to make sure we're well prepared for every game, and, you know, he's been great for us. You know, we're a team that shows up every night now. We're a team that competes every night, and we've got to give him credit. He made that happen in the dressing room.

PAUL KARIYA: I don't envision any lopsided scores. I think the games will be very close, similar to the way they have been basically every game for us this post-season, but, like you said, we're used to being in those types of games and we're comfortable playing that style of hockey. I think they're the same way. I mean, they're a tight-checking team that's very disciplined, and they're used to playing tight games too. I think you will see low-scoring games.

PAUL KARIYA: It seems like the scoring line to me. He's playing fantastic hockey right now. I've gotten to see both of those series and him and Gaborik are just flying out there. They don't look like a checking line to me, but I think the old adage is the best defense is having a good offense seems to work well for them. He's very good defensively, and he's a great skater, and because he has a lot of offensive skills, that helps him defensively. He's able to anticipate plays and know where to go.

J.S. GIGUERE: Our confidence level is pretty good. Even coming into the playoff, we knew we had a pretty good team. We knew we could win some games. We're a pretty young team, but getting those two series wrapped up is really good for the confidence. The Wild's confidence is probably as high as it is for our team. It's going to get harder and harder to win games. It's going to be very exciting. It's going to be very tough and a lot of fun to play in.

PAUL KARIYA: You know, they're a great hockey club period. If you beat the Colorado Avalanche and the Canucks the way they did, they have a lot of good qualities about them, and like I said earlier, we're going to be in for a tough battle, but, you know, we're preparing for Game 1, and that's our only focus will right now.